Land and freedom
In April, amendments to the Criminal Code came into force, decriminalizing some elements of illegal business activity. In this regard, lawyers for the former head of the Aksai district of the Rostov region, Vitaly Borzenko, and the family of businessmen Babaevs filed a petition to terminate the criminal prosecution of their clients. The criminal story revolves around plots of land with an area of 116 hectares adjacent to Rostov-on-Don and the federal highway Don.
Aksai markets must have been seen by all car travelers who have at least once driven to the sea along the M-4 Don highway. The interests of a variety of forces intertwined around this small territory – from local officials to oligarchs. As a result, a bizarre plot was born, filled with power scandals, criminal trials and big money.
Power and the market
The high-profile case about the Aksai markets began in April 2021, when several thousand (!) security forces unexpectedly blocked the territory, staging a real special operation. As reported, the reason for the raid was the search for illegal migrants, as well as the suppression of the work of underground brothels and casinos.
However, it soon became clear that the security forces were not primarily interested in prostitutes and migrant workers. Shortly before this, the head of the administration of the Aksai district of the Rostov region was detained Vitaly Borzenko. By that time, he had held this post for 27 years, and it seemed that there was no force that could pull him out of the commanding chair. Borzenko became one of the most influential officials in the region even under the governor Vladimir Chuba. There were objective reasons for this: Aksai district is one of the richest territories in the region, directly adjacent to Rostov-on-Don. Successful agricultural enterprises, shopping and entertainment centers, elite holiday villages, car markets and dealership centers – all these businesses brought large cash flows to the region, and their owners, one way or another, had to resolve current issues with the district administration. However, on April 12, 2021, the official was detained by FSB officers at the Kislovodsk resort and sent to a pre-trial detention center, where he remains to this day. The investigation found 172 pieces of real estate (mostly land and commercial premises) from his relatives.
The essence of the charges against Borzenko comes down to the fact that he indulged the businessman for selfish reasons Karim Babaev and his sons in organizing four markets. For this purpose, according to investigators, the land was illegally withdrawn, including from the ownership of the Aksai region (part of the land was purchased from private owners). In this regard, Vitaly Borzenko was sent to the pre-trial detention center Karim Babaev and his two sons. Presumably, the Babaevs managed many businesses, but acted very carefully, almost without registering assets in their name. In particular, the Babayevs simply owned the land as private individuals and leased it to businessmen, who were already organizing markets and subletting small plots directly to the owners of retail outlets. However, it was precisely this fact that the investigation used against them. The main charge against the Babayevs is illegal business activity without registration with the receipt of income on an especially large scale, as well as the legalization of illegally obtained income.
From the runway
As a result, almost two dozen people ended up in the pre-trial detention center – former employees and business partners of the Babaevs, officials of the Aksai district administration, local security forces… The investigation even reached someone who lived in Montenegro Telman Ismailova, former owner of the Cherkizovsky market in Moscow. According to leaks, it was Ismailov who warned Karim Babayev about the raid on the Aksai markets and, perhaps, even helped him leave Russia (*aggressor country) illegally (in the fall of 2021, Karim Babayev surrendered to the Russian authorities, his sons had already been in jail for six months).
However, the scandal soon spread from the corruption-criminal to the economic plane. The fact is that more than 2 thousand Rostov entrepreneurs lost their businesses, which they ran in the markets quite legally. In this regard, businessmen began to actively complain, reaching the prime minister Mikhail Mishustin. Meanwhile, the main intrigue of this story was no longer the fate of detained officials and ruined entrepreneurs, but the fate of the earth. At the time of Vitaly Borzenko’s arrest, the main interest in this story seemed obvious to many. Not far from the Aksai markets, at the very entrance to Rostov, there is the territory of the old airport – in 2017 it was closed due to the opening of a new one. Until 2018, structures of the Renova holding company applied for the development of a gigantic territory within the city. Victor Vekselberg, who built the new Platov airport – according to rumors, the vacated territory was supposed to go to him as a bonus. However, then Vekselberg was supplanted by a new player – the Stavropol holding YugStroyInvest (USI).
Since then, the company, which received unexpected sympathy from local authorities, has felt at home in the Rostov construction market, receiving attractive plots one after another. At the same time, the USI business is shrouded in an aura of mystery: no one knows its true beneficiaries, but everyone assumes that the company is backed by a powerful lobbying resource.
Therefore, Rostovites would not be surprised by the news that USI will develop the former markets. After the arrest of Borzenko and the Babayevs, regional functionaries really began to share projects for the development of the territory at the entrance to the city. At first it was stated that the lands of the Aksai markets would definitely not be transferred for housing – Governor Vasily Golubev clarified that it would be a good idea to build an exhibition center here. However, then, for some reason, an unexpected detail for officials suddenly surfaced: market lands cannot be legally transferred into the ownership of a region or municipality.
It's no longer a crime
This is how local media describe the situation. The claims were filed by the Aksai district prosecutor's office with the wording “for the return of land from someone else’s illegal possession.” This is a so-called vindication claim, which must usually be filed by the injured owner, which the prosecutor’s office is not. After this, the prosecutor’s office stated that the lawsuit was filed in the “interests of an unspecified circle of persons,” that is, residents of the Aksai region. But the statute of limitations on this deal expired 15 years ago. Prosecutors again found a way out of the situation and stated that this illegal transaction became known only as part of the criminal investigation. However, there is no court decision on it yet, and therefore it will be possible to talk about the illegality of something only after a verdict is passed.
As Our Version learned, some of the plots were still confiscated, but not all of them. Recently, the regional Ministry of Construction recognized a problem: not even a development concept for the territory is ready (although the governor ordered this to be done by March), since some of the plots are under arrest as part of a criminal case. And then news arrived that could make life easier for all participants in the protracted corruption process. Amendments to the Criminal Code have come into force, which decriminalize illegal business activities associated with the extraction of large or especially large income, in the event that no major damage from it to the state or citizens has been proven. In the case of the Babayevs, it would seem that there is damage to the area – the municipality has lost land. But, as you can see, the investigation did not delve into this issue – the businessmen were charged with illegal entrepreneurship, specifically related to the extraction of income. Thus, the lawyers had the opportunity to petition for a complete cessation of the criminal prosecution of their clients, which was done. There is a quick way out of the protracted story: the Babaevs can be released and sell the land to whomever they should. The only question is whether, in the changed economic and geopolitical conditions, at least something can exist in this place other than the markets that spontaneously arose here 30 years ago. Meanwhile, it became known that USI will only develop the airport territory for another 15 years. We have not heard of new applicants for the development of the entrance to the city, but entrepreneurs who have lost their retail outlets continue to create an atmosphere of discontent. Will everything go back to normal?